Onslow County students return to school

Macensi Wittenborn got a good night’s sleep before she returned to Summersill Elementary Tuesday morning.

AMANDA HICKEY Daily News Staff

Macensi Wittenborn got a good night’s sleep before she returned to Summersill Elementary Tuesday morning.

But that doesn’t mean she wasn’t anxious.

“I was a little nervous and excited. I was just a little scared to be in a new classroom,” the 10-year-old fifth grade student said.

Macensi was just one of 24,535 students who were in Onslow County Schools on Tuesday. On the first day of school for the 2012-13 school year, there were 24,071 students, according to school officials.

Macensi said she had a fun time in Onslow County, Virginia and Indiana with her family over the summer and, while she was a bit sad to see summer end, she was also happy to return to school, math and her friends. She said it’s fun to learn different ways to solve problems, and she’s looking forward to doing experiments in science and social studies this year.

The experienced elementary school student said that younger students shouldn’t be too nervous because “they’ll meet new friends and maybe they’ll have fun.” She also warns that they shouldn’t argue back with their teachers or say things they aren’t supposed to — and that they should follow instructions in class.

Savion Young was excited to return to Hunter’s Creek Middle School where he’s in eighth grade despite having a good time at leadership camp in Maryland at the beginning of August. He said he is looking forward to a school year full of National Junior Honor Society, Academic Derby, basketball and helping others in the community.

Savion said he was nervous about how his teachers would react to him after his attending the Junior National Young Leaders Conference was announced in The Daily News on Aug. 18.

“I have heard a lot of people had seen me in the newspaper,” he said, explaining that people were proud of him and had cut out the clipping.

Emily Macon, who is also in eighth grade at Hunter’s Creek Middle, said that she was a little “anxious” about school Tuesday so it was easy to wake up and get to school.

“I was happy to see all my friends I haven’t seen since June,” she said.

Emily said she read a lot over the summer though she couldn’t remember the titles.

“I remember I was sucked into them,” she said.

The eighth grader said that sixth-grade students shouldn’t be nervous, among other words of advice, about middle school.

“Don’t get on anyone’s bad side. Just be yourself and don’t get on the bad side of any teachers,” she said.

Emily said that when she went to sixth grade she tried being someone she wasn’t and ended up getting into trouble. She said she returned to her normal reserved behavior for seventh grade.

“And now I’m just me,” she said.

Sixth grade is the next step for Jaedah Hines, who returned to Summersill Elementary for fifth grade Tuesday and said she’s looking forward to middle school. In the meantime, Jaedah was ready to get to math class.

“I think it pushes me forward. … It makes me go farther. If I don’t know something, I push myself just to get it,” she said of her favorite subject.

Jaedah said she had a fun summer going to the beach and spending time with her family, which included trips to the library and math-related games, but she was ready to get back to school.

“I think this school is really fun and being in fifth grade, I feel older,” she said.

Shayla Palmer, a fourth grade student at Summersill Elementary, said her first day of school was going well and she was enjoying getting to know new people. Shayla said that she enjoyed summer and visiting her grandmother in California, where it was hot, but she was glad to be back in the classroom.

“It’s so boring without school. You get to do fun things and learn fun things,” she said.

And this year, she’ll get to learn fun things with the help of technology. Summersill Elementary is one of 19 POD schools where parents are able to send personally owned electronic devices to school with their children to be used in the classroom. The schools will also issue devices to students as necessary.

“It’s kind of weird for me to bring electronics to school,” Shayla said. “I’m not really an electronics person. I like to go outside.”

Shayla said she likes running and tends to take notebook outsides to write down what kind of animals and plants she sees.

“I went outside one day and I saw a black widow. But I didn’t touch it,” she said.

And while she’d rather play outside, Shayla said she is looking forward to using electronics in class because it’s something she hasn’t been able to do before.

Interim Superintendent Ron Singletary said he began visiting schools at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday and, while he didn’t expect to visit them all on the first day, he was pleased with how the beginning of the school year was going.

“We’ve got excited kids … they seem eager to be back,” he said while visiting Summersill.

Singletary said that on top of new students, the system also has many new teachers who are “excited to be a part of this team.”

Onslow County Schools Public Information Assistant Suzie Ulbrich said that transporting children to and from school “went as smoothly as can be expected for the first day of school.”

“Traffic dropping off students was a little heavier than it will be,” she said. “We heard there were parents who drive their students today as they were unsure of the bus stops, but now that they’ve seen where they are those children will be on the bus.”

She asked that parents be patient for the next few days while parents and staff alike get used to the drop-off and pick-up process.

“It always takes a few days to make all the adjustments,” she said.

Parents can also help school get started on the right foot by making sure their students get enough sleep, do their homework and arrive on time, Ulbrich said.

“We encourage parents to stay in communication with teachers. Talk to your children about their day, spend time with them and give them an opportunity to talk about their fears and their triumphs,” she said.

Parents also have the opportunity to keep up with their student’s attendance and progress through Home Base, a statewide instructional improvement and student information system that is being used this year. The program will allow students to access schoolwork and learning activities, administrators to monitor data and teachers to access student data, as well as teaching and learning resources.

“For the most part, the Home Base start up was successful,” Ulbrich said. “There were some complaints that it was slow and anytime you are learning a brand new program it’s going to take time and patience … This is going to be a good tool.”

Ulbrich said that reports from schools were positive.

“Students and teachers were excited about opening day and happy to be back,” she said. “School offices were bustling — children were still being enrolled, students forgot things, and parents had lots of questions — but everyone was smiling. Most of the schools are seeing increased enrollments. In the classroom, it was calm —students and teachers were ready to get down to business.”

And among those ready to get to work was Emily.

“I’m happy to be back,” she said.

Amanda Hickey is the government reporter at The Daily News. She can be reached at amanda.hickey@jdnews.com.